Condor in Flight

Written by Guest Writers, Susan and Tom, in Cafayate for a visit of 9 days and are now enjoying life back on the Limerick! Thank you for your contribution!



During our nine-day stay in Cafayate in July 2009, we hiked several of the canyons and rivers in the area, always with binoculars in hand. We were delighted to see condors on three different occasions. As we hiked up the mostly dry bed of the Rio Colorado, we spotted the first group. Three adult male condors soared overhead, unmistakable, with their enormous 9-10 foot wingspan, dark black bodies with white wing patches, and bright white collar. They drifted on the thermals created by the rocky canyon above us, never flapping their wings during the thirty minutes we watched. The next day we went to the ruins at Quilmes and hiked the high trail that loops around the site. As we climbed to the overlook on the right, just above the ancient village (our original destination), we realized that the trail continued up and up and up, and decided to see where it went. Always scanning the skies, we spotted a group of condors soaring, three adults and two juveniles. The juveniles were almost as big as the adults, but a gray-brown color, with no white collar. Another day we hiked up the riverbed of the Rio Chuscha, where once again we saw condors soaring above the rocky canyon walls. These birds fly up to 100 miles each day in search of carrion, usually large animals like cattle, llamas, or, sheep. Later in the week we also hiked the Rio Yacochuya, where once again we saw a half dozen condors soaring. We had first seen condors in the Colca Canyon of Peru, where we saw twenty at a time, so close to us that we could feel the wind beneath their wings. It was a magical experience. Since then we have seen them in Patagonia, in both Chile and Argentina, as far south as Tierra del Fuego. Condors range from top to bottom of the South American continent, usually high in the Andes, roosting at 10,000-16,000 feet, but ranging down into the high desert of northwest Argentina where we saw them near Cafayate. If you aren't into hiking up these canyons, you can also see them as you drive through Quebrada de Cafayate, but you'll have to get out of the car and watch for them soaring high overhead. Without binoculars you won't see the defining characteristics of the birds, the white collar and wing patches, but even with the naked eye you should be able to appreciate their magnificent size and graceful flight pattern.

Art - Ceramics

This is the second part of my quest for the best art in the area. My absolute favorite ceramic artist that I have found to date is out of San Carlos (only about 25k north of Cafayate). Mendoza’s ceramics is a true testament to talent, experience, and imagination. Ceramics in this area are very much a part of the culture. I even took a ceramics college until we started the Restaurant and I no longer had enough time. Since then I have a passion for the different types and would love to some day return to ceramics.

I learned that the “asilla” or mud for ceramics, is found nearby in the Quebrada de Las Conchas. Mostly, the ceramics are fired in huge outdoor ovens with wood. This takes a lot of experience and talent because the type of material used can show three colors, brown, black, and silver. This all depends on the temperature of the oven. If you want it silver, the fire and wood have to be hotter than if you wanted your ceramic brown. My favorite of Mendoza’s pieces are the silver and black. Although he does all three. His pieces are done to perfection, smooth, textured, and rich in colors. His designs vary with snakes, birds, owls, faces, and even dragons. I’ve visited him many times and have always taken guests there. Finally, I broke down and bought something of his. For me, it isn’t cheap but well worth it. Ever time I go in, he always remembers who I am and he shows me his pieces he is working on (right now an sink that the water would come out of an eagle’s mouth). He’s even sold to a gallery dealer from California. Anyway, in small town San Carlos you will find an amazing, down to earth artist with a passion for uniqueness and a family of talent (his son is a painter as well). I highly recommend stopping by his shop even if it’s just to look at amazing art and to chat with a very nice man. You might be surprised what you walk out of there with!

Restaurante Colorado Menu

One of our favorite things to hear from our customers is how much they love our food. When we first moved to Cafayate, we went to every restaurant (well almost), and enjoyed the local cuisine of milanesa, empanadas, locro, and asado. We really enjoy these items but then we realized that that was it, there was no other variety. We began to listen to the tourists as they passed and would say, “where are we going to eat tonight, I just don’t want meat and potatoes, I want veggies.” Now, granted, we are spoiled being from the U.S., especially in Aspen as the cuisine there (if you can afford it), is without a doubt, divine, with a large variety of the freshest sushi, mexican, american, italian, cuisine that I can’t name the nationality and the last time we were back, they just opened a Buenos Aires fare! Unbelievable!

When we were deciding what we wanted to pursue in Cafayate to make a living, a restaurant was really the last on the list as Charlie knew how much work it really is (I, however, escaped restaurant work my entire life and had no idea.) As things work out though, we kept hearing tourist express their desire for different food, our local expat friends were politely pushing for a new restaurant, and I guess we were too. We were at this point staying very close to home making wonderful meals with fresh fruits and vegetables, some of the best meats, and other ingredients we were able to round up. Once we passed by the building and found out it was available, we just dove in and within 4 months, we opened for business. Now, given the fact we had major construction, we had to buy all of our equipment, have someone local build all of our furniture, and get all of our licenses, I am amazed to look back and realize what we did in such short of a time. Even outside of Argentina that would have been hard, but in Argentina, I think it must be a record. Of course, the business plan I made had us opening in 2 months... oh the things I have learned since then.

As of December 2008, we were open for business and serving large fresh salads, every Plato Principal comes with veggies (usually you have to order everything a la cart - you just get a hunk of meat), mexican food, and we threw in a spicy thai curry chicken just to shake things up. We are also, the only restaurant that provides a tasting of the different local wines (wine flights), as we wanted to highlight one of Cafayate’s best qualities! So, one night you can come in and have a Bife de Chorizo (steak), with sauteed vegetables, and grilled potatoes, and a torrontes wine flight. The next night come in and have tacos, nachos, and of course, almost everyone’s favorite, guacamole and a fresh spinach salad with Cafayate’s only beer on tap. So, if you find yourself in Cafayate craving some fresh vegetables, cold draft beer, or something different, stop on by Restaurante Colorado.

Salta Errand Day

Charlie usually goes to Salta twice a month for supplies for the restaurant. I had business to do in Salta so I decided to join him. We even closed the restaurant so we could stay the night in Salta. The road between Cafayate and Salta is absolutely beautiful as you go through the Quebrada de las Conchas filled with gorgeous red rock formations, a gentle running river, and various other colors of greens, yellows, and purples thrown about. Even though it is beautiful, going to Salta is not my favorite way to spend a day. If we want to go and come back in the same day (when we don’t close for dinner), we leave very early in the morning in order to make it to Salta when the stores open. Almost all of the stores then close for lunch at 1:00 p.m. until 5:00p.m, we have to get everything done before lunch., so it takes 5 hours to get to Salta and back and then we only spend a total of 3 hours doing errands... needless to say, it’s not the most relaxing trip.

This time is different, we get to take two days to finish our errands and maybe have a little fun in-between. At first, we tried to go to a see Harry Potter at the shopping mall movie theater, but it was only showing in Spanish dubbed (usually the new movies are done in subtitles). Since we were there to relax, we didn’t feel like struggling to understand what was going on. Then we continued to downtown to do a little shopping. Downtown Salta is insanely busy during the evening with lots of crowds and people standing in lines. Everything takes about 2 hours longer than you think it should, but we powered through it, almost unscathed with a new clothes washer and, yes a TV - our first! After, returning from shopping, we decided to try a new restaurant that some of our customers recommended. We found the house converted to a restaurant on Balcarce. We were led upstairs to the dining areas and were directed to a very small room (like a kids bedroom), with another table of 2 gentleman and 3 more empty tables. We were happy that every time someone walked in to sit down, they asked to go some where else because it felt like we were all dining together! Other than the cramped atmosphere, everything else was great. The food was excellent with different menu usually not offered in Salta. We had wild rice, baby sprouts, and a few other shocking (usually not seen in NW Argentina) items. The evening finished with dessert of baileys on the rocks and the volcan (chocolate cake that oozes chocolate syrup when you cut in to it- yummy!).

The next day we went to one of my favorite stops on the Restaurante Colorado “errand day”, the fruit and veggie market (CoFrutos). This is the mother of all farmers markets! A huge warehouse filled with vendors of everything from oranges, lettuce, peppers, to spices and beans. We always by our bulk veggies here, straight from the farmers where we get to pick the quality and haggle down the price. We head out of town with our usual stop for some empanadas and a gas re-fill at the YPF (they have the best empanadas..) and start our return trip home to unload and get ready for dinner at the Restaurant. All in all, a great trip, but as always, we are very happy to be home and certainly exhausted.

Art - Ferias (Art Markets)

Cafayate has two outdoor markets where you can find a variety of ceramics, weavings, metal work, basketry, and wood work. They are definetly worth checking out if you like to buy locally made art, plus you can really find some unique gems. They are located on both sides of the plaza (North and South).

Queso de Cabra/ Goat Cheese

Queso de Cabras (Goat Cheese), is a specialty here in the North West of Argentina. We live in a relatively dry desert, cows are few and far in-between, but goats and sheep thrive! Much to the happiness of our wild husky dogs. Charlie and I have to be very careful wherever we hike to come across goats, as the dogs also tag team on the goats and take chunks out of their legs. Anyway, at 100 pesos a goat, it starts to get a bit expensive to take the dogs for hikes, for as much as we avoid them, inevitably, they appear in areas we think are “goat free”. What does this mean though? Amazing goat cheese!

Our quest originally began at Cabras (goats) de Cafayate, just outside of town about 3k. They have a first class place with goats all lined up at the feed troughs, automatic milkers, a great cheese making building, and now they've expanded to cow cheese as well. Quality is excellent, they've even won awards in Buenos Aires and sell their quesos in most of Argentina. They have the closest cheese to cheddar that I've found in my South America stay - between Chile and Argentina an often searched for item. They even have day tours and show their facilities to tourists and if you have always wanted to milk a cow and never had the opportunity... they will let you! We use their various quesos for several of our specialty dishes and personally eat plenty! But our search continued to find a good quality queso de cabra at a price that we could offer in our restaurant in more quantity with our many salads, meat and cheese plates and other offerings.

Living in the desert and having goats is very common here, there are lots of homemade goat cheeses. We bought several different ones from the mercados that always varied in quality and consistency until finally, a local customer told us about a goat cheese maker that has good, consistent, safe, cheese for a great price. We went to the only market they sell to and bought some and tried it out. She was certainly right.

Now with many things we experience here, once we find a resource we like, it suddenly disappears and you have to find an alternative or track down the original. I believe because we were buying so much at the market, they just sold out for over a week. After a few days of buying higher priced goat cheese, we decided it was time to track down the original provider. Things are never easy here, there's no address, there are no signs, there are no business cards, just a person saying, "Oh, I think it's somewhere in the quebrada - haven't you seen a roadside there that says they have cheese?" So, off I go in to the canyon between Cafayate and Salta on a mission to find goat cheese. Near an area where we hike (on the other side of the road), I saw a sign that said goat cheese, so I followed it. It lead me to this outdoor area that had about 5 out buildings, tons of goats, and the owners working. I spoke to a woman and asked if she had cheese and if she was the one that sold in town. She answered no on both accounts and sent me down the road near a hotel (that's out in the middle of no where), pass that through a fork in the road and there, I’ll find a house that also makes cheese. The only way to find what you are looking for is to stop and ask the locals and once you get lost, you do it again and eventually, you run in to the end of the road and your destination. 

I found 8 adobe style buildings surrounded by corrals for goats made out of the desert thicket (completely impenetrable). I roll up the windows to keep the dogs in and slide out of the car, a little hesitant as there are 10 dogs in the yard. I clap my hands (this is what you need to do when you approach a house, or a business - there’s no yelling HOLA (hello)!, you just simply clap your hands and wait). The owner’s sister comes out and I ask if she has goat cheese for sale and if I can buy some. She shows me in to the cheese making room - spotless and clean and extremely cool (which by the standers of all houses and buildings here is no shock), and stacks of cheese waiting to be weighed and sold. So in an end to my trip, after stopping a few stops to find it, I found the best goat cheese to buy for our restaurant! All in all a great excuse to do restaurant business, without being in the restaurant. Plus the dogs got a good run in after (no where near the goats!)